Artist: Silverlane
Title: Above The Others
Genre: Melodic Power Metal
Release Date: 26th November 2010
Label: Drakkar Records
Album Review
SILVERLANE is a group from Germany who make an interesting use of keyboards to make their power metal sound a bit more than just generic. ‘Above The Others’ is their quickest studio album to date since their 2008 album, so some may feel it might have come a bit too soon. And maybe it did. Many of the tracks on ‘Above the Others’ tend to sound the same, whether it is the beautiful keyboard intros or the thick chugging riffs and melodic solos in the middle. Vocally, it sounds a bit like the clean male ones from NIGHTWISH by Marco Hietala, rough but also able to hit high notes easily. There is a bit of a symphonic atmosphere to the music overall, but nothing like NIGHTWISH or THERION; it is still strictly melodic metal.
Keyboard moments like such as on ‘Above The Others’ and ‘The Game’ will provide the highlights of the album, whether they sound progressive or just straight up classical. Other tracks like ‘Fallen Angels’ rely more on a hard rock / heavy metal chug akin to MEGADETH to provide a bit of ruthlessness to the music overall rather than keep it too melodic or soft. Some may consider the four part epic of ‘The White Lady’ as the best of the album, but sadly it tends to fall into a bit of a generic pattern, starting off softly with ‘Part I’ which is by far the best track due to the simple, but effective keyboards. ‘Part II’ is a bit heavier while merging into the symphonic side, while ‘Part III’ goes back to that simple piano sound that is too much like the first part. Even though there’s some guitar chugging going on in there, fans will probably pass it off as not as creative as it could have been.
Finally, “Part IV” falls back to the heavier side and offers the most sonically distorted track on the album. It’s great power metal, but upsets the balance of the music overall with how harsh the sound is. “In The End” fortunately brings things to a closer on a good note by providing that same heavy sound, but with a much cleaner finish. Those who are just getting into SILVERLANE may be mesmerized by the keyboards at first, but more veteran fans may consider this album a bit too much like their last one. The charm only works for so long before it starts to tire fans out. Even the album itself may get tiring, but thankfully not too much as there is a good mix of soft and heavy tracks spread throughout. Certainly worth a listen for those who enjoy a fresh sense of keyboard.
Tracklist
01. Above The Others 6:01
02. 1789 6:04
03. Last Day On Earth 4:12
04. Fallen Angels 4:11
05. The Game 5:41
06. The Dark Side In You 4:15
07. Ready To Rock 4:26
08. The White Lady Part 1 - A Ghost Appears 4:03
09. The White Lady Part 2 - Golden Needle 3:59
10. The White Lady Part 3 - Between The Trees 2:55
11. The White Lady Part 4 - Days Of Sorrow 5:16
12. Anything 4:15
13. In The End 6:16
Line-up
Ecki Singer – Vocals
Chris Alexander – Guitars
Uli Holzermer – Guitars
Daniel Saffer - Bass
Simon Michael – Drums
Dorotheé Schmitt – Keyboards
Website
http://www.silverlane.org/
Cover Picture
Rating
Sound: 6
Music: 7
Total: 6.5 / 10
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